Description:

AN IRON WOOD GUARDIAN FIGURE ''HAMPATONG''
Borneo, probably North, Sarawak or Sabah, Malaysia, Iban-Dayak (?), first half of 20th c.
H. 170 cm ( o.S.)
This expressive, rustically and powerful cut wooden sculpture is fully sculpted from a single piece of ironwood. Although many tree species in the tropics are known as ‘ironwood’, for Borneo this term refers specifically to belian, Eusideroxylon zwageri). This wood is extremely dense and durable and sinks immediately in water. This hampatong represents a mother and child. The child, which touches the mother's nipple, is figuratively only born when the husband has captured a head, as life must first pass before something new can be born. The mother turns her face towards the child and sticks out her tongue in a gesture of ominous defence. It is more likely to be a mother goddess than a real person. The main figure has a traditional topknot. The base is decorated with motifs cut in low relief, combining stylised dragon motifs (aso) and plant forms. This indicates the connection between fertility / harvest and the underworld (the aso is its lord) and the renewal of life, which is the theme of the main scene. The style of the bas-reliefs, which can also be found in tattooing, points to Iban-Dayak (Sarawak), as does the rustic, powerful ‘coarseness’ of the execution. It is a thousand-year-old observation of plant groups that plant growth is promoted by ‘death’ (organic substances). Therefore, the principle of sacrifice should always be understood as a gesture of nourishing the earth and promoting fertility, as the vanished life can be recalled by the underworld deities. Shamans, manang, can control and catalyse this process. Today we would call this process ‘metabolism’ and the utilisation profane as ‘fertilisation’, but the empirical observation that new life arises from death is still indisputable. Hampatong (from patong: Malay ‘statue’) is the generic name for ancestral and protective figures made of hard wood. They are erected by the Dayak groups on Borneo both as memorial sculptures for the deceased at burial sites and as guardians in front of the longhouses. This figure may have been made as a protective figure on the occasion of naming festivals or initiations.
From an old German private collection, assembled since the 1950s - Traces of age, partly chipped and with fine age cracks, mounted

Schutzfigur ''hampatong'' aus Eisenholz
Borneo, wahrscheinlich Nord-, Sarawak oder Sabah, Malaysia, Iban-Dayak (?), erste Hälfte 20. Jh.
H. 170 cm ( o.S.)
Diese expressive, rustikal und kraftvoll geschnittene Holzskulptur ist vollplastisch aus einem Stück Eisenholz gefertigt. Als „Eisenholz“ sind zwar viele Baumarten in den Tropen bekannt, für Borneo bezieht sich diese Bezeichnung allerdings spezifisch auf belian, Eusideroxylon zwageri). Dieses Holz weist eine extreme Dichte und Dauerhaftigkeit auf und geht in Wasser sofort unter. Bei diesem hampatong ist eine Mutter mit Kind dargestellt. Das Kind, welches die Brustwarze der Mutter berührt, wird im übertragenen Sinn erst geboren, wenn der Ehemann einen Kopf erbeutet hat, denn es muss erst Leben vergehen, ehe Neues entstehen kann. Die Mutter wendet dem Kind das Gesicht zu und streckt in einer unheilabwehrenden Geste die Zunge heraus. Es wird sich eher um eine Muttergottheit als um eine reale Person handeln. Die Hauptfigur hat einen traditionell hochgebundenen Haarknoten. Die Basis ist mit im Flachrelief geschnittenen Motiven versehen, die stilisierte Drachenmotive (aso) und Pflanzenformen zusammenführen. Das deutet auf die Verbindung Fruchtbarkeit / Ernte und Unterwelt (der aso ist deren Herr) und auf die Erneuerung des Lebens hin, die in der Hauptszene thematisiert ist. Der Stil der Basisreliefs, der sich auch in Tatauierungen findet, deutet auf Iban-Dayak hin (Sarawak), wie auch die rustikale kraftvolle „Grobheit“ der Ausführung. Es ist eine jahrtausendealte Beobachtung pflanzender Gruppen, dass durch „Tod“ (o

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